Koboshi kabuto

Samurai helmet with standing rivets

Haruta School

Momoyama to early Edo Period, 17th Century

A 62-plate koboshi-bachi [helmet bowl with small standing rivets] with 31 pointed rivets on each plate decreasing in size towards the top, with the exception of the larger front plate, with three lines of rivets and the small one on the back which is left blank, for a total of 1,953 rivets.

The kabuto is fitted with a gold-lacquered five-plates neck protection (shikoro) of hineno style, typical of the period.

The tsunomoto riveted on the visor holds a wooden front decoration (maedate) shaped as two hawk feathers. On the sides are two kamon (samurai clan crest) of uroko (fish scales) type, a rather rare feature to see on mabizashi.

Even if unsigned, the tenkokuzan shape of the bowl (bachi), lower in the center and slightly higher on the back and some other features such as the number and arrangement of rivets, suggest an attribution to the Haruta school, one of the oldest armor schools of Japan, that moved to Kaga during the 17th century.